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Here is a cool battle between a Paintball toting Tank and the Paintball Sentry. Looks like the tank needs a bit more speed and punch to be able to be a contender. Thanks for the email Jeff. “I mounted a turret kit from our website to a Traxxas slash and pit it up against the paintball sentry” |
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The prize this week is a multi tool that is sure to help you MacGyver your way out of trouble. This contest will run for one week (July 3 – July 9, 2010) . Ending time is based on central standard time. To enter, identify the item pictured above and give an example of what can be done with it. Please do not give the answer in the comments. Send an email to contest @ hackedgadgets.com with “Name the Thing Contest” as the subject, and the message body consisting of:
The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct entries. ———————————–———- Added July 17, 2010 The item to guess was a rear of a CO2 laser engraving machine. The winner is Matt U. (there were 67 entries) ————————————–———- Below are some pictures of the prize.
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Matt Meerian of Home Brew Electronics sent in this Electronic Bird Catcher project that he completed a few weeks ago. It is a device that was hacked together to catch a robin that was causing mischief around his new house. He tried a few simple methods of getting rid of the bird but they weren’t very effective. He decided to let some technology help him out, he designed a quick and dirty contraption that would wait for the bird to enter and snap shut. Only problem is that the contraption seemed to have scared off the bird permanently. I guess the capture box looked a bit to scary for the bird to stick around to find out what it was… This seems to be the same tactic that most alarm companies seem to use when the stick all those lawn stakes and window stickers all over the houses that they protect. If you are interested in building something like this there is full schematics and source code provided at the bottom of the Matt’s article. “When the microcontroller determines the voltage from the sensor is above the set value, the output to the solenoid is changed from a high to a low. This turns off the solenoid (by turning off the n-channel FET) that is holding open the gate of the trap. Gravity then takes over and the lid closes.”
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Dave Coates from the Air Force Research Lab in Dayton Ohio designed this Remote Auxiliary Power System. I don’t know where to begin with this device! I think this device is flawed in so many ways, I hate to think of how much money was pumped into getting this device to this stage… The cable that is being shown in the demonstration is one that would deliver power to a house or business, if you were that close to the house you could just use a ladder or the top of a Humvee to get up high enough to tap into the lines. Of course you could also just knock on the door and ask if you could plug in for a few hours or run an extension cord out the window for the day. I think the hook design is very flawed, what is going to happen when the blade slices into the hot conductor and then also touches the ground wire? If they want to grab power why not tap into the higher voltage bare transmission lines with a similar device minus the blade and just drive a spike into the ground for ground. They will need to step down the higher voltage but if they are wanting to charge some battery operated devices that would be no big deal. If they want to mount something on a Humvee they could make it very simple with a long telescopic fiberglass pole which has a remotely opening and closing claw that could grasp the line. Via: Popular Science “RAPS is a connecting device that’s attached to the end of a long cable. When the device is thrown over a power line, a blade at the end pierces the power line and completes the circuit that brings electricity down to the soldier. And that can mean a lot in the desert or jungle.”
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